Improvement in key-hole guards



UNITED STATES PATENT CFFIGE.

HENRY ESSEX, OF MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEY-HOLE GUARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,352, dated June 23,1874; application filed l May 15, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY ESSEX, ot' Meadville, in the county ofCrawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new andusei'ul Improvements in Locks 5 and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and t0 the letters of referencemarked thereon, which form part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in a springguard for closingthekey-holes for locks, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which iny inventionappertains to make and use the saine, I will now proceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a face view-ot' parts A and B; Fig. 2, a view of thekey-hole guard C; Fig. 3, a view ot' the key; and Fig. 4 is a section online x x.

In the drawing I have represented a lock, the ease of which is made intwo parts, A and B, bolted or otherwise fastened together, and havingthe key-hole a formed in the part B at the joint or inner edge of thesaine, said keyhole being formed for a at key. In the inner side of thepart A of the lock-case, opposite to the key-hole, is formed a recess,b, having at its inner end, at each corner, a rounded eX- tension, b',as shown. In the recess b is formed a circular recess, d, for theinsertion of a spiral spring, z'. C represents the key-hole guard, whichis placed in the recess b, and provided, at its inner end, withprojections e e-one on each side; and on each projection is a smallconical point, fr, which fits in a corresponding depression made in therecesses b', thus allowing the key-hole guard to turn slightly on saidprojections as upon trunnions. The key-hole guard projects beyond thelock-ease, the outer `to pull it back and at the same time get anythinginto the key-hole to pick the lock with, except the proper key.

A key-hole guard may be arranged in the same manner on almost anylockthat is, placed within the lock-case and operated by a spring toclose the key-hole, one end of the guard projecting beyond the side ofthe lockcase.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with a lock, of a keyhole guard and spring, theguard bein on the side of the key-hole, and projecting beyond it, andthe spring arranged within the lock-case, substantially in the mannerand for the purpose setforth.

2. The combination of the lock-case A B, provided with key-hole a andrecesses I) b d, the escutcheon C, provided with projections` e e,having points a: x, and the spring t', all slibstantially as and for thepurposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I al'lix my signaturein presence of two witnesses. v

HENRY ESSEX. wvitnesses:

GEO. O. MORGAN, G. IV. ADAMS.

